


Burning like a silver flame

by Anonymous



Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Slight Vik/V if you squint really hard, Temperance Ending, spoilers for the game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:47:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28512903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: They say the end of the world is catastrophic. Predictions of thunderous flashes in the sky, magma oceans, the whole world drowning in the rising sea levels and becoming fully aquatic.The end of Johnny’s world, he’d argue, was much worse.
Relationships: Johnny Silverhand & V, Misty Olszewski & Male V, V & Viktor Vector
Comments: 2
Kudos: 38
Collections: Anonymous





	Burning like a silver flame

They say the end of the world is catastrophic. Predictions of thunderous flashes in the sky, magma oceans, the whole world drowning in the rising sea levels and becoming fully aquatic.

The end of Johnny’s world, he’d argue, was much worse.

It was one thing to be a victim of Soulkiller, strapped to that chair. The agony of being ripped out of his body and shoved into an engram is indescribable, even to someone who shared their body with him. Who shared a mind with him. There are just some things that don’t translate, somethings one can’t say out loud. Words that can’t be placed to emotions. He’s never been good at that shit anyway.

But V… V has understood him far better than anyone ever has. Their mutual dislike of each other had faded with the edges between them. Sometimes he’d made decisions that had made Johnny angry—of course, V doesn’t _understand_. V wasn’t even _born_ when he’d died. He’d been born 27 years after Johnny had been a victim of Soulkiller. Another time, another era. By that point Johnny was just a whisper in some music circles, a silent warning from Arasaka of what would happen to other terrorists of his kind.

Thousands of people had died, and it wasn’t enough to make a point. Thousands of lives that hadn’t mattered to him—still don’t matter to him. And yet, one had been enough to gut him when he least expected it.

V’s second death… well. No one had even been there to see it, except for him.

They’d made it to Mikoshi. They’d made it to Alt. He’d been prepared to let go, to do as he promised. With Alt, he probably could have made far more of a difference destroying Arasaka than he ever had in the past… and then V had turned to look at him.

That face will forever haunt him, no matter how many times he relives it. No matter how many times he dreams about what could have been different. No matter how many conversations with himself that he mutters angrily in the shower washing off _V’s_ body.

_“Change of plans,” V had tilted his head in that confrontational way he’d done sometimes, looking at Johnny. “I’m going with Alt. You take the body.”_

“ _Fuck_.” Johnny says to the empty room, closing his eyes. There was nothing he could have done to change it. Nothing he could have said that would have made any fucking difference.

If he really thinks about it, he knew that V had decided a lot sooner than that. The little things he’d done and said. The way he’d set aside things that were important to him to give out, like little pieces of himself to remind the poor shits that he’d loved that he was there. He was important. He was somebody. V had told him he’d take a bullet for him. He’d told him that if the time came, he would give up his body.

And Johnny hadn’t even paid attention.

Rogue, Arasaka, finishing everything he’d had on his eternal to-do list in that purgatory limbo between existence and not existence in his engram... that had come first. His final requests. What he’d wanted.

V had slowly faded away right under his fingertips, and his preoccupation with himself had meant that he’d blinded himself to everything else.

“You were someone.” He says, under a tequila fueled all-nighter that he surely will regret a few hours from now. “I wonder if you knew that when you died? That you _were_ someone.”

V doesn’t answer, of course. The part of him that was fully occupied by V’s space—V’s thoughts, dreams, memories—all of it has faded into a nothingness that leaves him hollowed. When he’d jokingly said _“Nah, kid loves me_ ” to Kerry, he hadn’t actually expected to know that was true.

In some odd, exasperated way, V really had loved him. He only knew it when he couldn’t feel it any longer. V might be the only person who ever really has, and as usual… he’d thrown it away.

“Ah shit, V.” He says to the mirror, touching V’s hair. The side of his face where his cybernetics dip into his cheeks. “I won’t squander it this time. I promise.”

V’s body stares back at him expectantly. His thoughts remain empty.

“Part of me really thought you’d say something.” Johnny says, looking down at the sink. “You know, I think about those twins you fist fought that one time. Where they said they were one person, but split into two now. Why didn’t we ever discuss that? Why did it have to be you or me? Couldn’t they just build me a new body? You a new body? Your soul was dead anyway, in Mikoshi. We could have done something with your engram, couldn’t we?”

The bathroom is oppressively silent.

“Goddamnit, V.” Johnny murmurs.

Then again, he’s sure he wouldn’t want to hear the answer were V still there. Probably some sentimental bullshit about how Johnny can live out the life he should have had if it weren’t cut short by his own doing. V was always stupidly full of heart in the most embarrassing of ways. Always there for the people he loves. Always doing things for everyone else while the relic was malfunctioning, and his body was slowly killing itself.

No.

 _He_ was slowly killing V. A cancer that V couldn’t cut out, even if he’d wanted to in the beginning.

He presses his head in his hands, frowning as V’s phone rings again.

_God your friends never fucking give up, do they V?_

“Goddamnit.” He says again, as V doesn’t answer.

**_Misty Olszewski is calling._ **

“Again?” Johnny frowns, “She’s persistent. I’ll give her that.”

If something has happened to any of V’s friends, they’ll know right away that V is dead. He has always been the type to drop everything and leave, even in the middle of a gig. He went back to finish it later, of course, but his friends have always been the top of his priority list.

It’s a matter of time anyway.

 ** _1 new voicemail message._** On top of the countless ones left already. Messages from various people wanting V’s time and attention.

“Fuck it. Here’s to bad choices.” He lifts the tequila bottle to the empty bathroom; presses play on the recording. Misty looks distraught.

“V… I was afraid you wouldn’t pick up. I know you’re busy and…” she sighs, “look, I know something happened. The cards don’t lie, and every time I do a reading for you it’s the same cards. Do you know how unusual that is? It’s extremely unusual. _Something_ happened and… I know Vik was a little bit harsh, the night that you left the clinic. You know he didn’t want anything to happen to you, he just didn’t want to see you hurt and… oh V. _Please_ call me. I’m so worried about you. I miss you so much.”

“Ah shit.” Johnny stares at the phone screen. “Now what, V? What would V do?”

Silence.

“I know what you’d do. You’d have answered her in the first fucking place so she wouldn’t be crying to your voicemail. Shit.”

_It was a matter of time anyway._

He presses the call back button.

“V!” She answers immediately, expression delighted. “You gave us such a fright over here, where have you been? What—”

“Misty.” Johnny interrupts, “V died in Mikoshi.”

She visibly freezes, so abruptly that for a moment Johnny thought she hung up on him.

“Johnny?” She asks, very quietly.

“Fuck, listen. Just hear me out. I tried _everything_ to make him stop and listen to me. I tried to push him back. I put myself in front of him. I tried to talk him out of it, okay? I know I’m going to be the bad guy here and whatever. I have been all my life, it’s kind of old shit by now. But trust me, the last thing I wanted was for V to fucking die. We had a deal. I promised him I’d go. And then…”

Misty sits down abruptly. “That explains everything. Why his cards didn’t change. Because... he’s…”

“Dead. Yeah. I know.” Johnny takes another drink of tequila. “Stupid asshole.” 

Misty stares into the distance for a long moment, “I don’t know how to tell anyone. I…” her eyebrows furrow, “I can’t… I’m… I knew that he might… oh, V.”

“This was supposed to go a lot differently. Trust me.”

“Him dying trapped you in his body?”

Johnny scoffs bitterly, “Well yeah, he became one with Alt—with the AI that took over Soulkiller and destroyed Arasaka. She now controls their entire prison of lost souls. Without him, I’m the only person that the body could go to. And it did.”

“He _what_?”

“Bad choices all around.” Johnny toasts, taking another drink. “Fuck this tastes even worse than the shit that was made in 2023. Why did I drink this? It’s like… rancid pussy.”

“My, I’m concerned about where your mouth has been.” Misty comments halfheartedly, “…Vik is going to be so brokenhearted. Mama Welles… have you told _anyone_ Johnny?”

“Sure let me just call everyone on V’s phone with ‘hey, V’s parasite Johnny Silverhand here! He died and I’m stuck inside his body now. Bye have a nice life.’”

She rolls her eyes, “V was right, you are dramatic.” She closes her eyes, resting her hand over her face. “I don’t even want to look at you.”

“I’ve heard that a lot.”

Misty doesn’t laugh. “I… need to talk to Vik. I’ll… well. Thank you for telling me.”

He hangs up immediately, squints at the tequila in distaste and pours the rest of it into the toilet. “I gotta pack and get the fuck out of here.”

* * *

He frowns at a piece of paper tucked into V’s Samurai jacket that Rogue had given him. He touches the edge of it, trying to remember if he remembers this particular piece of paper at all.

> _Johnny,_
> 
> _Sooner or later, we’ll have to make a choice. I don’t know what will happen in Mikoshi, but I do know that shit is about to get real. Nothing ever goes right and this all feels too smooth._

“Christ. Have you ever heard about foreshadowing, kid?”

> _But I do know what I personally believe in. If there’s anything you’ve taught me, it’s to stand strong to that. No matter who tries to take it from you and fuck you over._
> 
> _Now look, I finished all your requests. So, in the chance that something catastrophic happens… here’s mine._
> 
> _Well. Unless we both die, and then some random choom is probably wondering what kind of crazy shit is happening in this letter. Trust me, random person, you don’t want to know. Ever._
> 
> _If it really is you, Johnny, then here we go. I hope you adhere to it like I did for you, stubborn bastard._
> 
> _1\. I don’t care what you do with the eddies otherwise, but a portion of it has to go to getting Vik and Misty a better place. Her shop and his clinic are in an alley, okay? They could do better. Good luck to whoever tries to convince Vik of it, but thankfully I’m probably dead if you’re reading this so it’s not my problem. _

“Wow. Seriously?”

> _Mama Welles is going to take it really hard. I don’t suggest you come anywhere near her if she finds out you’re in my body, or someone tells her the whole crazy truth. I don’t suggest being near Panam either actually. Both of them will try to gut you alive, so… stay clear of them. Mama Welles will have lost all her kids at this point so… I wish there was a way you could tell her that I’m sorry but… I don’t think you’ll be able to. And you definitely would suck at pretending to be me. She has a mother’s intuition. So… just get the fuck out of there._
> 
> _2\. This one is really important to me. Are you ready? I want you to forget all of the Arasaka shit and move on. They/their technology ruined both of our lives and got us both killed. Possibly more than once at this point. It’s time to let go and just get over it. You know I’m right, don’t be angry over it. The best thing you can do for yourself is to let go. Find somewhere else. Find some other company to hate I don’t care, just don’t nuke a couple thousand people again. Find somewhere that brings you peace. _

“Sentimental gonk.”

> _I am not sentimental fuck you. I can practically hear it._

“Ah, so you do know me.” 

> _I’m sorry._

Johnny swallows once, twice. “Ah shit, get your body under control V.” Johnny clears his throat, trying to swallow past the lump there.

> _3\. Okay for real, the last one. In the back of my top dresser drawer there’s an old shirt there. Probably smells weird at this point, it’s been years since it’s been worn by anyone. Has a weird splotch of blood on the tit of the right side. Find it? Good. Leave it in front of Misty’s Esoterica. Vik will understand what it means. You won’t have to tell anyone about me. Just get out of town._
> 
> _Good night and good luck._
> 
> _-V_

“Ah shit.” Johnny sighs. “You had to leave a whole laundry list before I leave this shithole forever didn’t you?”

He transfers the eddies, leaves the shirt. Packs the few things he wants of V’s and leaves his apartment behind. He leaves Jackie’s bike by the Esoterica too. It feels, somehow, like something V would approve of. Buys a burial plot and leaves V’s bullet necklace in it.

Johnny’d wanted a headstone, something to remember his body by. V had at least carved his intials where his body was buried. It was the least he could do for V.

The sun is hot on the back of his arm from the bus window, the breeze smelling less and less like the reek of the city the further away that he gets.

**_2 new text messages: Viktor Vector_ **

Johnny glances aside at the other passengers before opening the message.

_Don’t ever come back to Night City, Johnny._

_Thank you for V’s things. I hope I never see you again._

He tosses V’s phone out into the ocean. 


End file.
